Centring her research on 6 popular stories, Claire combined her long-standing passion for reading with the chance to gain first-hand experience in qualitative research.
Under the guidance of Dr Inwood, Claire designed a survey to explore the ins and outs of why online fiction in China had such a large fanbase but had been criticised in the past in favour of more traditional mediums.
“Discussion of ‘Netfic’ is very often juxtaposed with ‘serious fiction’ and framed in a negative narrative (such as it is ‘corrupting the youth’ or reaffirming gender stereotypes), whereby my summer research sought to see ‘Netfic’ from a different light. I think to have a true understanding of online fiction it is important for us to suspend any preconceptions and go beyond the negative mainstream narratives.
“Understanding [the popularity] of ‘Netfic’ ultimately hinges on an appreciation of how authors are able to create unique worlds, characters and plot lines that mediate between everyday life and innovative imagination. It is also important to take readers’ views seriously that many of them talked about ‘Netfic’ as empowering.”
Claire’s survey highlighted key reasons why readers enjoyed consuming fiction online, with readers showing their appreciation for the complexities of the writing style in stories, the guidance and motivation that fictional realms and characters provided them in their own lives, and the sheer accessibility that comes with the online reading platform and the vast quantity of content. Anyone with a digital device can have access to online fiction and many platforms allow free reading of the initial chapters.
“Readers are invited into the imagined worlds created by writers, requiring them to constantly navigate the boundary between the fictional realms and their own realities. ‘Netfic’ writers also often blur the lines further by directly addressing readers or even breaking the fourth wall.”
When asked about her favourite source material she analysed, Claire spoke of the ‘The Little Mushroom’, a Silver Award winner at the Chinese Nebula Awards for science fiction. The story follows the mission of a sentient mushroom on a mission to find his spore in an apocalyptic wasteland, that was once Earth as we know it. In analysing the story, Claire found that many of the themes were of interest to academics, commenting on the story’s broader conversation about the Anthropocene. In short, the stories that critics commonly deemed as far from ‘serious’ fiction, shared far more similarities with traditional storytelling than previously thought.
“’The Little Mushroom’ is both an apocalyptic fiction and a Boys’ Love story between a human and xenogeneic. The Little Mushroom prompts a reflection of our human-centric perspectives, alongside having amazing plot lines and world setting. The story also contributes to broader conversations about debates like nature versus culture and humans versus non-humans, as well as pressing concerns around climate change and biodiversity loss.
“The imaginative freedom in Chinese online fiction is deeply intertwined with the creativity of traditional storytelling forms. Many themes prevalent in Chinese online fiction, such as these romances between humans and non-humans or interactions between mortals and supernatural beings, can be traced back to classic Chinese fantasy literature.”
When asked to sum up her experience of the Summer Research Scheme, Claire wrote:
“From apocalyptic literature to posthumanism, my summer research on Chinese ‘Netfic’ was a journey through uncharted worlds.”
